The AbitibiBowater "Arlington Recycling Operation" Building

I arrived at around 12PM on a sunny Friday afternoon to the AbitibiBowater “Arlington Recycling Operation” building and was immediately impressed with the high level of activity surrounding the recycling center. Trucks were constantly loading and unloading at the centers numerous loading bays.

I had always wanted to see how both domestic and commercial recyclables are processed and my tour of the Arlington facility gave me a fascinating insight into how the recycling process works;

1/ COLLECTING THE RECYCLABLES:

The first stage for any recycled materials is collection. Their are several types of vehicles which perform the recycling collections;

Various Recycling Collection Vehicles

There are three main types of collection vehicles, the Front End Loading (FEL), the Rear End Loading (REL) and the Roll Off type vehicle (RO). You might recognize one or all three types of collection vehicle, try to spot them the next time you take a road trip!

The EcoRewards section of the business supplies local companies with various sizes of curbside containers including compactors, open top containers and hard top containers.

EcoRewards Supply Local Businesses with Recycling Containers

The curbside containers shown above can hold about 8 cubic yards of material and are collected by the Front End Loading vehicles. An example of a larger curbside container is shown below, these are great for municipal drop off sites where it rains and a company needs to keep the recyclables dry until collection day;

A Larger Hard Top Curbside Container

2/ UNLOADING THE RECYCLABLES:

The various recycling collection vehicles make their collection calls and head back to the Arlington recycling center to unload the recyclables. A collection vehicle will make their drop off straight into the tip area. The tip area is the staging area for all incoming recyclable materials.

Recyclables Being Unloaded in the Tip Area

3/ MOVING RECYCLABLES TO THE SORTING AREA:

Once the recyclables have been unloaded a large wheeled bucket loader pushes them from the tipping floor into the in-feed conveyor, where it is processed into the drum feeder.

Moving the Recyclables to the Sorting Area

4/ SORTING THE RECYCLABLES:

Once the recyclable material has been pushed towards the in-feed conveyor they are loaded onto an inclined conveyor. The incline conveyor takes the recyclable materials up to the raised pre-sort station’s sorting conveyor from the drum feeder.

Recyclables Loaded Onto an Inclined Conveyor

At the top of the inclined conveyor is a “pre-sorting” area which starts to group the materials by type of recyclable. The extended pre-sort area allows more sorters to work the material, improving the run-ability of the equipment downstream as well as productivity.

The Materials are Pre Sorted into Recyclable Groups

As the recyclables move onto their next stage they pass over filter screens. Passing over these fine screens removes broken glass and small material. The recyclables then drop into one of three ONP (Old Newspaper) screens to separate the newspaper from the recyclable containers. The Arlington, TX facility is the only system in the world to run three ONP screens on a single line!

Filter Screens Remove Small Particles and Glass Fragments

5/ RECYCLING THE PAPER PRODUCTS:

The first stage after the pre sorting line is to separate any recyclable paper products. All materials sorted out by the three Old Newspaper screens go to the two paper sort lines, where the sorting teams remove plastic bags and any other non-recyclables as well as any cardboard missed at the pre-sort line.

The Recyclable Paper Sort Line

6/ RECYCLING PLASTIC PRODUCTS:

After the paper products have been removed from the recyclables the second stage is to sort out the plastic recyclables. A sophisticated PolyEthylene (PET) optical sorter separates the PET bottles (clear drink bottles such as water and soda bottles) into a PET bunker.

An Optical PET Sorter Finds Clear Plastic Containers

The optical sorter does an amazing job of separating the PET bottles which can be seen below in the PET bunker;

The PET Plastics Bunker Full of Clear Plastic!

The rest of the recyclable containers flow down the container line, and the colored plastic High Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE) bottles, such as laundry detergent and soap bottles, and the natural plastic HDPE bottles get sorted out by hand into the appropriate bunkers.

The HDPE Plastics Bunker

7/ RECYCLING THE STEEL AND ALUMINUM:

Once all the paper and plastic has been removed from the sorting line all that is remaining is steel and aluminum cans and a small amount of non-recyclables. The steel cans are removed by a magnetic belt, and aluminum is removed by an eddy current. Any remaining material is sent to the trash conveyor and trash compactors.

The Steel and Aluminum Recyclables

8/ BALING THE RECYCLABLES FOR SHIPPING:

Once all the recyclables have been sorted into the paper, cardboard, plastics and metals categories they are ready to be taken from their bunkers and compacted into large cubes of recyclable material. An automatic tie-off baler fastens the bales with aluminum ties, preparing the bales for shipment.

Baling the Recyclables for Shipping

9/ THE RECYCLABLES ARE READY TO BE SHIPPED:

After all the sorting by man and machine, and once the categorized recyclables have been baled into large cubes the finished product is ready for shipping. The finished product might be shipped off to an AbitibiBowater mill or another end user and become your next recycled material purchase! The Arlington Recycling Facility can pack up the baled recyclables and transport them in large containers by road or by rail. In fact, the train tracks run right up to a loading bay at the back of the facility!

The Finished Recyclables are Transported by Road or Rail

Q. So how much recyclable material does the Abitibi Bowater / EcoRewards facility in Arlington, Texas process?

A. They process a staggering 350 – 400 tons of recyclables a day!

That is equivalent to over 300 tons of CO2 greenhouse gases prevented everyday, or permanently removing around 50 cars from the roads per day!

One the Many AbitibiBowater Sorters Working Hard Everyday

Q. If I live in the Dallas / Ft Worth area, how can I help the AbitibiBowater recycling facility?

A. The people at AbitibiBowater and EcoRewards are working hard everyday to recycle as much of our residential and commercial waste as possible, here are a few things you can do to help;

The following items can and should be recycled:

Paper Items

• newspapers
• magazines
• phone books
• junk mail and envelopes
• office paper
• flattened cereal boxes
• flattened cardboard that will fit in bin
• paper bags

Glass

• clear, brown and green glass jars & bottles
• remove lids and discard
• lightly rinse
• labels can be left on

Plastic

• plastic jugs and bottles
• remove lids and discard
• lightly rinse
• labels can be left on

Steel, Tin & Aluminum Cans

• lightly rinse
• labels can be left on

DO NOT put the following items in your recycling bin:

• medical waste (needles, syringes, lancets)
• Styrofoam
• pizza boxes
• plastic grocery bags (you can return these to a local grocery store for recycling)
• aluminum foil
• plastic toys, dishes & bowls
• light bulbs, windows, mirrors
• pesticide / chemical containers
• motor oil / antifreeze containers

For more information about the EcoRewards program and how to get your business linked into an amazing recycling program you can contact;

EcoRewards Recycling program

AbitibiBowater

As I searched the shelves, I found that Staples offers more than 3,000 different environmentally friendly office products, not only recycled copy paper, but file folders, packing peanuts , recycled Post-it notes, light bulbs and even recycled storage boxes!
After doing a little research, I found that Staples and Office Depot are both offering environmentally preferable office products. Because I shopped at Staples this time, I noted that they have a program called Staple Soul. Their advertisements reads that Staples Soul, “Reflects their commitment to corporate responsibility. It’s a holistic approach to business that recognizes the close connection between their financial success and their desire to make a positive impact on their associates, communities and the planet…”.  Their positive impact on the planet involves selling Environmentally preferable products, Recycling, an investment in energy conservation and renewable energy and Environmental education. Further research found that Staples offers a variety of services, including options for recycling computers, ink and toner cartridges, cell phones and other personal electronics and even rechargeable batteries. They charge a $10.00 per piece fee for large equipment for dis-assembly and recycling but smaller computer peripherals  such as keyboards, mice and speakers are accepted at no charge.

This is done at any U. S. Staples store! You can also drop off used ink cartridges in store and they have partnered with Collective Good, a nonprofit partner that will take used cell phones, PDAs, pagers, digital cameras and chargers and refurbish the products when possible or recycle them and donate a portion of the proceeds to charity.

No, I don’t work for Staples or own stock! I do think its good for any business, large or small to have a program in place to save energy, recycle and conserve our natural resources. There are a lot of them out there. My office included!

Having just gone for paper, I ended up with about 4 other recycled products for my office and the location where I can take my broken printer, 2 old cell phones and my used ink cartridges! Buying recycled goods and recycling at the same time, part of my greener office plan!

Tips for a Greener Home Office

Image by Koonisutra

Contender Number 1: Small Steps Bathroom Tissue by Marcal

Marcal Small Steps Bathroom Tissue

Their tag line is “A Small Easy Step to a Greener Earth” and we certainly have to commend every company that develops and promotes green product lines. The packaging jumps out from the shelf and is instantly recognisable as an Earth Friendly bathroom tissue.

The standard pack contains 6 rolls = 708 single ply sheets, that’s 464 sq ft of bathroom tissue.

The Marcal tissues are whitened without chlorine bleaching, they are hypoallergenic and made without any dyes or fragrances.

The main selling point is that the tissue is 100% recycled paper.

Contender Number 2: Bright Green Bathroom Tissue

Bright Green Bathroom Tissue

The bright green bathroom tissue is our family favorite and we  knew that any contender to the “throne”, excuse the pun, would have a difficult task.

Once again this pack contains 6 rolls but in this case you get a double layer for extra softness = 352 double ply sheets, that equates to 264 sq ft of bathroom tissue.

The Bright Green tissue is also 100% recycled paper but it is also a guaranteed 80% post-consumer content product, that means your hard work recycling paper products is actually being put to good use!

The Bright Green tagline is “Brighten Your World” and it certainly makes us feel better about using so much bathroom tissue.

The Results!

The Marcal Small Steps bathroom tissue would certainly last a long time but we found that you would probably have to fold the sheets over several times to avoid tearing!

Marcal Small Steps Tissue Closeup

The Marcal brand tissue paper had a very simple dimpled pattern but felt too thin and a little rough to the touch.

We agreed as a family that we could get used to it after a while, and it is probably the slightly greener choice, if we could avoid excessive folding!

Bright Green Tissue Closeup

The Bright Green brand tissue has a “leafy” pattern and feels much softer to the touch.

So I’m afraid we won’t be switching from our current brand, not just yet anyway, the Bright Green Bathroom Tissue is still our favorite.